2008: Year of the Robot

I slept exactly seven hours last night, and whenever I sleep exactly 7 hours, I wake up in the middle of a dream. I've started scheduling my sleep time around this, because they're usually pretty interesting.

Last night I dreamt I was witnessing, from the air, a sea of scrambling people, running away (or toward?) some kind of creature - at first I thought it was a robot, and then I thought it was a dragon, and then I thought it was some sort of robotic dragon, and then (of course this is fanciful dream logic) - I KNEW that this was the incarnation of Year of the Dragon, the Chinese New Year that's coming up in 2008. And then of course I looked it up and this next year is actually the year of the Rat. Robot rat?

On a completely unrelated note: If you're like most people, you've seen a Ron Paul video or two on the internet, or read about his amazing fundraising day on Nov. 5th. I have no idea what the buzz is on American TV or off-line in America, but all I can say is ... wow! Wow. I watched this video the other day:



The music sounds like I'm watching the cathartic ending of some big-budget action film, and then of course the Simon & Garfunkel - classic hippie nostalgia. It all sounds great - limit our military overseas, get back to the constitution, cutting our bureaucracy and our spending - but then I checked out Ron Paul on this:

http://www.2decide.com/table.htm

Sure, small government works for issues when I want small government. But what about environmental and oil industry regulations? Help for illegal immigrants to achieve citizenship? A woman's right to abortion? (This one seems opposite, but take a look at his voting record - I remember from the Rep. debate he wanted to leave it to the States.) Suddenly, I want government back - but only for those issues? Suddenly, it's not so simple anymore. But hell, the simplicity of his position sure is seductive.

At the same time, I agree with Paul that we are acting more like an empire than a republic. And maybe electing someone this radical would be the only way to make even minimal steps in cleaning the mess from the past 8 years. So, what do you think? Discussion welcome.

I can't believe I forgot to post this before - the night I finished the first draft of my novel, I had a little party downtown.

Good friends, good times.



Me and Chang-Hun had an epic battle to see who could drink the most soju. We both won!



There was many a tender conversation over a bubbling pot of 만두국 (dumpling soup).



Oh oh! Cute.



And then I flew away. The end! ^^

Wow, it's been almost a month! I think I have trouble focusing on more than one thing at a time. Well, my novel is done, I finished it in the afternoon of November 30th - I'm not saying it's good or anything, but it's DONE. That's what I signed up for. I think it's okay for a first draft, it definitely needs a lot of editing before I can think about submitting it anywhere, but it feels so good to complete what I started. Did I think I'd actually write a novel when I started it on November 1st? Well -- no. I think I thought I'd have some decent excuse - maybe my job would give me another class to teach, or I'd down with a bad case of the mumps or something - and it would have to be put on hold. The cold weather here made going outside so unattractive that it wasn't hard to just sit in the library and in cafes and let it write itself. :)

I'm on another little semi-vacation right now for a week - the CAMPS start this Friday, during which I've been warned that we'll be working weekends, evenings, weekend evenings, and perhaps new hours will be added to the original 24 just so we can work a little bit more. It's the calm before the storm. So in the spirit of togetherness and bravery, our department took us all out for a hike on one of the oreums (small mountains) of Jeju.



Being December, it was a little cold, but the views were still beautiful.



When we came down from the mountain it was still morning - amazing! I'm not used to waking up early for these kinds of adventures. We went to this horse and pork restaurant which was filled with these little cartoon pictures of horses and pigs frolicking together and raising hoofs in cheery, smiling hellos. I love horse - I've had it before - the best part being raw horse meat with sliced pieces of pears. Ohh ... I'm getting hungry just thinking about it.

Oh my goodness, it's been a long time since I've posted. It's getting colder on Jeju Island and I haven't had many adventures around the island ... a few! But not many. Mostly I've been writing - I'm working on a novel right now, for the month of November, and it's coming along well. I've been hanging out in every coffeeshop in scooter-able vicinity to write it. Let's see, what else is new? Been hanging out with these guys a lot, Mano and Jay (he nearly always looks this demonic).



Had a Halloween party for the kids. We made toilet paper mummies!



The leaves look pretty.



And Cathy got her shoes shined by a robot!!



That's pretty much what's going on out here lately. If you'd like a copy of the novel to date, drop me an email.

Well, my vacation's over. I caught a cold through most of it, but I've rested up and I'm feeling great now.

I saw a lot of cows today. This one seemed to like me.



I took the scooter to the east side of Halla Mountain today and just road around, stopping to check out beautiful views. It's a shame it'll soon be a little too cold to do this.



The foliage was nice but nothing like home -- I miss New England!



I found this path through an evergreen forest on one of the small hills here on Jeju ... it seemed almost like something out of a fairy tale -- or a horror movie??



Well I've been telling everyone I know, so I might as well post it here - I've decided to try the National Novel Writing Month contest! Yes, this gives you permission to heckle me and ask me how many words I've written so far. I start at 12:00 AM on November 1st, and I have till 11:59 PM on November 30th to write a 50,000 word novel. I'm thinking about posting chapters as I finish them here - good idea? Wish me luck!

Well it's been hot and humid since I arrived here in Korea, but this past week the weather took an abrupt nose-dive into almost visible-breath, winter-coat conditions. And unfortunately I caught a little sniffle as well. I had the week off from Uni classes, and spent most of the time hanging out at cafes, reading, and working on my little pet project lately ~ putting ALL of my photos online. I think I've got about 10,000 on my computer, and right now I'm uploading what I have to Flickr and sorting through them. You can't see them yet, but in a week's time they should be all public, check them out. Here's a few recent ones:

One of my best students, Geonbeom, tries a fruity cocktail at a bar renowned for it's homebrewed beer. I guess just to be different?



Minbeom shows off his book balancing talents.



One day 3 out of the 5 students in my Level 2 class decided to wear brownish bluish plaid shirts:



The view of Jeju City from Dodu Oreum (near the airport).



I feel like I'm really settling in here at Cheju University, which is I guess somewhat strange to say. I've been traveling and moving around since last May, and the prospect of staying in the same place for a while has seemed almost alien. Until now. I'm happy here, my job is fun and fulfilling, and I can see my progress in the Korean language. Well, I guess I'm jinxing myself, but -- life's been good. :)

I'm on vacation! Well, sort of. I'm teaching only one class per day (kids' class at 4) for the next two weeks. Any recommendations on how I should fill my time? I've been doing a lot of hiking lately, and I plan to do more in the mornings this week. Below is from a hike I took last Friday to the oreum (volcanic hill / mountain) right behind the University. It was really hard to find the path up the mountain, I had to go through an army target shooting field. You can actually see my dormitory, its one of the buildings with a reddish roof in the middle to the far right. In the distance you can see Jeju City, on the sea.



The view of Mount Halla from the same oreum.



Butterflies were everywhere.



Easily the winner of this year's "slug on a mushroom" picture award:



Hillside gravesites.



On another oreum, tall grass and Mount Halla:

MOUNT HALLA!

This past weekend was pretty dismal and rainy and dull, but last week we had a day off on Wednesday for Korea's foundation day, and my friend Cathy and I decided we'd climb Mount Halla, the volcanic peak in the center of Jeju Island.



Halla Mountain is home to all kinds of exotic wildlife. We were continually divebombed by these cute (but deadly??) hummingbirds attracted to the yellow in Cathy's hat - they tried to suck her head nectar on more than one occasion. I caught a picture of one next to a legit yellow flower.



Also, the toilets smelled.



But of course the views were beautiful.



On the way home we passed a horse in the middle of the road. So we tried to creep toward it, but it was wise to us and kept moving away -- this was as close as we got. I think this pic would make a great album cover?!

CHUSEOK ADVENTURES

So this past weekend was Chuseok, a kind of Korean Thanksgiving celebration in which extended families get together and eat a lot of great food and give homage to ancestors. For us foreign teachers this year, it means - vacation! Chuseok is a lunar (full moon actually) holiday, so it falls on a different day every year. This year it fell on a Tuesday, and since the days before and after are travel days, we had a 5 day weekend! Roadtrip?? Yes sir.

Dolharubangs (literally: stone grandfathers) are ubiquitous in Jeju Island, originally they were symbolic guardians and stood at the village gates. Now you see them in front of hotels, restaurants etc. -- or in parks, playing the ocarina:



After finishing the puzzle at Kimnyeong Maze Park (it was hard!!):


With a Buddha-friend, at a very Muslim-looking temple.


My intrepid wheeled traveling companion, and Seungsan mountain at the edge of the east coast.



Moments before sunset on the way home.

So we had a typhoon here on Jeju Island last weekend. I'm okay, but unfortunately one of the professors here at Cheju Uni died while driving ~ the roads were like rivers. The island is still cleaning itself up. Here's the view from my dormitory balcony.

In my kids' class ~~

I'm teaching first graders English. Sorry, that's not exactly true. I'm babysitting a wild bunch of first graders, and I happen to sometimes speak English near them. We were learning "I want" today.

Me: "I want candy!"
Kids: "I want candy!"
Me: "I want a banana!"
Kids: "I want a banana!"
Me: "I want an apple!"
Kids: "I want an apple!"
Me: "I want world peace!"
Kids: ((confused looks))
Me: "..."
One student, his face brightening: "I want pizza!!"

Yep, it's close. ;)

Fukuoka, Japan was brilliant - even though I was only there about 24 hours, it felt just like a regular holiday.



I gave my approval to a number of things in Japan. Me and my friend Ben whom I met on the boat hung out for a bit with some Japanese tourists and we all did crazy pictures. It wasn't my idea, I swear.



Look closely and you'll see a motorbike balanced on a pipe near the roof.



I stayed in a capsule hotel - it might look like a row of laundry drying machines, but they're actually coffin-sized rooms with tiny tvs and very very low ceilings. Super comfy though.



Beer's-eye view of a bar in Japan.



Right now I'm exploring the campus, getting ready for classes (tomorrow -- eeekk!) and enjoying the fact that I have a (semi-)permanent home for the first time since early July.

My new address (send me Reese's Peanut Butter Cups pleeaassee??):
Henry Gerlits
Foreign Language Institute, Cheju National University
66 Jejudaehakno
Jeju City, Jeju-do
South Korea 690-756

And my new phone is:
(from Korea) 010-2062-8664
(from abroad) 82-10-2062-8664

I should be updating this a lot more often now that I'm settled in. I promise. Miss you all!

So we sing these songs at camp. They're super cheesy, and we have these choreographed dances to them, but I realized as I was dancing and laughing with the kids tonight that I actually *like* all of this campy silliness. Shhh ... don't tell anyone. ;) Our dances are way better, but check out these videos and you'll get the idea. Imagine these blaring out of huge speakers at 7:30 AM as the kids line up outside in Korean monsoon rains to eat rice and kimchi for breakfast. Worlds collide.

Phew. I'm finally in a room with internet. It's been a while since my last post, and in that while I've finished up with Camp Fulbright, done a short weekend camp, and just started another week-long camp in 여주 (Yeoju), a town outside Seoul.

I've learned a few things at camp. Sometimes, without prompting, kids will make paper mache masks of your face.



Nothing really gets down at staff meetings.



"Henry" sounds like "hungry" and apparently that's hilarious.



And not only is my arm hair made of gold, it's "very expensive". I was assured of this by one bright child, nearly twice a day. I heart camp. ^^

Being Activities Director, I've found, is more fun than I expected. Today we did a blindfold obstacle course.



And then, we tied groups of campers together and had them run around. Please note if you try this at home: the little ones fall out! But they're doing it with smiles on their faces. ^^



I never knew there was so much time, I swear. At night, listening to music in my room, songs seem to gain a dimension. I feel like I hear them slower. Maybe I'm just tired. But hell, what a great day.

So one of the camp teachers just knocked on my door. I opened it, and she said, "Henry, there's a big problem at the office. Only you can fix this. We need you right now." A rush of pride filled me. I was needed! My authority was required! I could do this, I could help whoever required my assistance. So I stepped out of my room to follow her, and ... was soundly whacked on the head with an inflatable hammer.

And with that, camp has begun!! The kids arrived today. They're amazing. The end.



One is never too busy to pose with a purple fan.

Camp Fulbright gets weirder.



Camp hasn't started officially started yet, the kids don't arrive till tomorrow, but we're campifying the building quite nicely.



Camp just isn't camp unless you shove the director out the window!



In other news, this game is an interesting exploration of the Korean obsession with "dong-chim" (jabbing your two index fingers up your friend's butt, in the most affectionate way possible). Um, enjoy!!